The Real Darkness

I'm really proud to be publishing a novel by Xiaoda Xiao called The Cave Man. I believe that his voice and his story are incredibly important. Plenty of books feel necessary to me, but this one seems essential.

It was disturbing to see China positioned as the guest of honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair. One good thing that came out of it, though, were the voices of dissent in the press, from writers, and from publishers. (I imagine that if the officials of the fair had any interest other than China as an emerging market, the jist of the event would have focused upon the country's censorship.)

I enjoyed some of the coverage by Publishing Perspectives from the fair, one piece called "Dissidents Have Their Day" and another called "The Red Piano Won't Play in China." The latter is by Australian publisher Andrew Wilkins about a Chinese printer refusing to print his children's book for censorship reasons.

Wilkins says, "Even as I share the excitement of seeing China as this year’s Guest of Honour, I’m also concerned that we have a Guest that still seems interested in censoring not only its own people, but the rest of the world as well when it can."

Publishers Weekly reviewed The Cave Man a month or so back, called it "excellent and moving," and in their most recent issue they've published an interview with Xiao, in which he talks about his own time spent in solitary confinement (for reading banned literature smuggled under the cover of one of Mao's red books), his sentiments toward Chinese prison literature of the '80s, and what he hopes to accomplish with his first novel.

Xiao says: "I hope to make people understand what we went through collectively, the terror in its daily and hourly incarnation. Just like Kafka, you know? It's a danger for us all when a society accepts this as normal. I was arrested and accused of attacking "the great leader's image" in 1971, and they sentenced me to a five-year prison term. I stayed in prison for seven years, five as a prisoner and two more as a laborer. This is what is happening in China right now. This is the real world, the real darkness that I've experienced. Not what they say, or people from the outside see, not the propaganda that's talked about."

He Was the Man For His Time and Place.

I wrote a rather nostalgic piece on The Rumpus cataloging my lethargy towards e-books. In it, I mention Larry Shainberg (author of Crust) telling me a story about being with Samuel Beckett when he received his author-copies of one of his books. As I was writing the piece, I asked Larry to tell me the story again and this is what he wrote:

"I've forgotten which of Beckett's books I told you about. It was one he published when about 78 years old. After a cast party for the London production of Endgame (the one I wrote about, for which he invited me to watch rehearsals), I walked him -- across Hyde Park -- back to his hotel because he was a bit drunk and I was worried to see he'd make it. At the front desk, they presented him with a hand-delivered copy, the first he'd seen, and as we rode up in the elevator together (I wasn't about to leave him before he got to his room), he showed off the book to me as if it were his first... "'What do you think? Nice cover, isn't it?'"

"His enthusiasm, I should say, was in no way unusual. In general, he always seemed like a beginner in his work."

Aubrey Rhodes

Aubrey Rhodes is a pretty amazing collage artist out of San Francisco. Above is her collage-painting of Superman, called "The Enemy Within."

I'm having trouble downloading more pictures of her work from her website, but you can just skidaddle on over there yourself to check out the rest.

She also did the cover for Joshua Mohr's second novel, Termite Parade, which we're incredibly excited about.

flOOk Books

I used to keep these Moleskine notebooks that everybody else had, which were black and generic. I'd throw stickers on them to spice them up. After a month, I'd tear off the stickers and try to put new ones on. It was fairly redundant. And messy and unattractive.

I found these incredibly rad notebooks - Fluke Books - that are made from letterpress scraps from the Tara Books workshop. Each notebook I've seen has been gorgeous and unique. I prefer the one I have to the pics I could scrounge up online, but you can catch the drift from this picture.

Also, peep this video on Tara's process of making books:

Making the Case for Technology: A Younger Generation’s Perspective on the Present Publishing Predicament

by JK Evanczuk

One of the most fascinating things about the technological revolution sweeping over the publishing industry is not the products of the revolution itself—that is, digital readers, hybrid books, and the evolution of the Internet—but rather all the speculation that all this new technology has inspired. I don’t think there’s ever been a revolution before with so much real-time commentary.

I can’t count how many articles I’ve read decrying technology—online articles, mind you, and let’s not ignore the irony inherent in that. People aren’t reading anymore, they say. They’re too busy playing digital Scrabble or Tweeting about what they ate for breakfast. It’s the end for the publishing industry! We’re doomed! And all the doomsaying is to be expected, of course, because if there’s one thing I’ve learned during this technological revolution, it’s that People Don’t Like Change. Furthermore, people are reacting to incomplete information, and making wild conjecture based on a digital-literary climate that hasn’t been seen through yet.

That said, let me make some wild conjecture of my own.

The way I see it, technology is a wonderful, wonderful thing for literature. Thanks to the Internet we can discover new books and publishers and discuss our favorite stories with interesting people outside our own literary circles, whom we’ve perhaps never met in person. Thanks to the Kindle and the iPhone we can take our favorite books with us—we can take entire libraries with us—and even download new novels on-the-go. Technology makes it exceedingly easy to discover and enjoy literature.

I understand why technology is causing such a mighty ruckus right now—why mess around with something so ancient and sacred as the printed word?—but I think what all the hubbub ultimately comes down to is this: are people still reading? And they are, more than ever before. Emerging technological formats and shifting consumer preferences are forcing publishers to restructure their operations accordingly, but that’s all it is. Restructuring. Which is markedly different than “the end of publishing.”

Like the music and movie industries are currently re-examining their operations in the face of new formats and digital piracy, the publishing industry will have to take a good hard look at itself and figure out how to make itself sustainable, whether that’s by charging higher prices for e-books or with less conventional methods, such as including advertisements in their books or turning their authors into rock stars and charging fans steep prices to see them on tour, stadium-style.

These ideas might seem a little outlandish, sure. But then again, maybe that’s what we need, because the old methods aren’t working anymore. The publishing industry isn’t what it used to be. But I don’t think that’s anything to worry about, in the long-term anyway. Things change. That’s the way of the world. The only difference about what’s happening now is that the change in question is big and abrupt, and because of that People Don’t Like It.

While I’m just beginning the heyday of my own generation and therefore cannot personally attest to the struggles of the publishing industry during earlier generations, as far as I can tell literature has always had to contend with The Next Big Thing. First it was the radio, then the film, then television. Now it’s technology, manifest in a medley of forms. But literature prevailed then. It will prevail now.

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JK Evanczuk is the founter of LitDrift, a blog about storytelling in the 21st century.

This Made Me Break Out the Camera and...

The UPS guy made my day when he delivered our copies of Rudolph Wurlitzer's second and third novels, Flats and Quake, which we're reissuing this month in a back-to-back or 69ed edition.

Similar to both Nog and The Drop Edge of Yonder, this edition of the two novels features original photographs by Rudy's wife, the celebrated photographer Lynn Davis. It's been really incredible to couple their work like this and I've been pleased with the enthusiastic feedback we've received. (In particular, the cover to Flats makes my spine tingle.)

And in my excitement, I'm also posting Michael Greenberg's truly marvelous introduction, which, after I first read it, inspired me to revisit immediately both of these novels, which I devoured as if for the first time. Which is more than you can ask for in an introduction.

Giddyup:

Open publication - Free publishing

This Kid Is Like...

I've enjoyed reading which authors and books Joshua Mohr's first novel Some Things That Meant the World to Me have been compared to. There's been Denis Johnson, Lewis Carroll, Haruki Murakami, and Franz Kafka.

I really enjoyed Darby Dixon III's well-written review in The Collagist, which brings up Michel Gondry:

Joshua Mohr’s debut novel, Some Things That Meant the World to Me, is where Michael Gondry would go if he went down a few too many miles of bad desert road. Replace the director’s Science of Sleep-style clouds-of-cotton whimsy with harsh whiskey and hot sand and you get a sense for the dark world Mohr constructs. Dark, yet not pitch black: he pits his vision of ugly realities against one of basic human kindness. It is this tension that gives his engaging novel its emotional power."

And, today, Some Things got another truly awesome write-up in Fiction Writers Review, by Tyler McMahon, who, in one review, brought up Bright Lights, Big City, Fight Club, Less Than Zero, Resuscitation of a Hanged Man, and Jesus' Son. Oh, and Nirvana's Nevermind. Peep this:

"If you’re one of those anachronistic thirty-somethings that still quaintly reads books then you may know the rare and exquisite pleasure of stumbling across one that seems to be written by, for, and about your contemporaries. I had that experience recently when I read Joshua Mohr’s debut novel. Imagine Fight Club if you were told about the schizophrenia on the first page, none of the personalities were as pretty as Brad Pitt, and the narrator spent the rest of the book with the gun in his mouth. The energetic prose [...] will likely draw comparisons to Bright Lights, Big City or perhaps Less Than Zero."

New Fall / Winter Catalog

Better For You Than Spinach

Over at The Millions they got together a slew of folks and compiled a list of their favorite reads of the new millennium, in a post they dubbed "The Best of the Millennium." Most of the predictable big dogs are represented on the list (either in The Millions poll or that of their readers), which isn't a bad thing -- there's a reason writers win Pulitzers and other such awards -- and there are some pleasant surprises, like Kelly Link and Lynne Tillman.

Whenever I see a list I have to make my own. Rather than proclaim it to be my own favorite books of the new millennium, I'll say that it's simply comprised of those books published this century that I know I'll recommend far into the future. And, I'll refrain from listing any Two Dollar Radio titles, since my decision to publish them should be a recommendation on its own.

Here are some of my favorite reads published since 2000:

Zeroville, by Steve Erickson

I'm in awe of Erickson's creativity and imagination.

Moira Orfei in Aigues-Mortes, by Wayne Koestenbaum

This is a brilliant and hilarious book, original and outrageously quirky.

Chinese Takeout, by Arthur Nersesian

My second favorite Nersesian novel (behind Manhattan Loverboy).

Do Everything in the Dark, by Gary Indiana

I frequently re-read the first several chapters of this novel repeatedly for inspiration. It's so beautiful it gives me chills.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

Outer Dark is in my top-five list. I genuinely love McCarthy.

Southland, by Nina Revoyr

A safe bet to recommend to high-schoolers, aunts, etc.

All My Friends Are Superheroes, by Andrew Kaufman

This book is sweet, poetic, creative, and tender.

God Jr, by Dennis Cooper

Dennis Cooper, Dennis Cooper, Dennis Cooper. (That's me chanting.)

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri

She's good.

Amazon for Indies x 100

I met the founder of Tubuk, Andreas Freitag, at BEA last May. He presented Tubuk to me as "an Amazon for indies." I think what they've created is amazing -- it's an Amazon for Indies x 100 -- and genuinely believe that this format will be the greatest game-changer for independent publishers online in the future.

Tubuk is an internet marketplace that only sells independently published titles from those presses they've invited to take part. But in addition, they've also created a forum where users create profiles and discuss books, authors, and literature in general. Think of it more as a Facebook-Amazon-Goodreads hybrid.

Presently, there are a tremendous number of venues for books to be sold online, but none of them cater strictly to indies and most of them rely heavily upon paid-placement, which means that unless you're searching for a specific book or author you may have trouble finding it. And once you do, they'll try to cajole you into buying a "similar" title by saying "if you like this, you might like...", which isn't based on similarity but rather on whether someone paid them to say that they're related.

Indiebound services independent bookstores. In recent memory, nearly all Indiebound Picks have come from corporate houses. Believe me, I'm not complaining since I imagine that this is at least partly due to the fact that it is somewhat expensive for publishers after their title has been selected to actually take part in the program. And also because there are great books published by big presses.

Powells.com, I believe, is the most level playing field for indie presses online and I love what they've managed to create, which feels like an online extension of their inspiring store. But it's in their best interest to serve all publishers, large or small. Again, I'm not complaining.

Amazon accounts for less than 3% of our total sales (which is why I don't feel nervous saying they're big and evil and unhealthy for society at large) while sales directly to independent bookstores make up over 35%. That's a truly huge difference. And indie bookstores don't charge us mysterious marketing fees.

I don't believe that there can be a replacement for an authentic corner bookshop, but for those of us stranded in areas of the country without many options apart from box stores, the idea of forging an online community akin to the experience of shopping at an indie bookstore is inspiring.

Now, what we need is for Tubuk to bring their model to the U.S.

Books I Paid Green Money For (or got for free).

Had a blast, as always, at the Brooklyn Book Festival. In speaking with some other publishers present, we seem to be of agreement that Brooklyn is the most fun, casual, and amusing fair we attend.

Here are some books I bought, traded for, or had given to me over the course of the long weekend:

Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada
The Open Curtain, by Brian Evenson
Ray of the Star, by Laird Hunt
Meet Me in the Moon Room, by Ray Vukcevich
Hiding Out, by Jonathan Messinger
Scorch Atlas, by Blake Butler
Eleutheria, by Samuel Beckett
Big in Japan, by Thomas Gammarino
April 1908 Bill Daniel's Mostly True, The West's Most Popular Hobo Graffiti Magazine

Joshua Mohr Reading Dates.

Joshua Mohr, author of Some Things That Meant the World to Me and the forthcoming Termite Parade, has added some additional reading dates in the Bay Area.

Sept. 24 - Dog Eared Books, 8:00, Babble On reading series

Oct. 6 - University of San Francisco (MFA reading series), 7:30

Oct. 17 - Litquake's Litcrawl event, Artillery Gallery, 8:30

Brooklyn Book Festival

We're getting amped up for the Brooklyn Book Festival this weekend, at Brooklyn Borough Hall. We'll be in booth #8, which is somewhere in the thick of it, arm's-length from the Small Beer (#6) and the Coffee House (#5) tables.

We're also pretty excited to have a handful of titles to display from our pals at Chin Music Press and Featherproof Books. Both are killer presses with excellent titles, so it should be nice to have us all under one . . . canopy.

You'll be able to check out some Two Dollar Radio titles at future fair, festivals, or book-related happenings that Chin Music or Featherproof are at, including Portland's Wordstock, Seattle's new book fair, and AWP.

(Speaking of awesome-ness, we saw the guy with the fun tattoo at a posh hotel/bar in Chelsea where we were killing time before our distributor's open bar during sales conference. I forget the name of the place, but I'll remember that tattoo anywhere. I did a Google image search for "fun" and his pic showed up.)

Vergangenbangenheit

by Francis Levy

Big German compound words radiate authority. They’re verbal weapons guaranteed to neutralize your opponent.

Vergangenheitsbewältigung (reckoning with the past) and Gesellschaftsgeschichte (the history of society) are the big guns. But even smaller ones can be quite useful, like Fehlleistung (Freudian slip), Wissenschaft (knowledge), and Leidenschaft (a passion of the kind that engulfs Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde). It’s truly wonderful how these German compounds produce meaning in the manner of a Hegelian dialectic. Gemeinschaft (society) carries a certain weight, especially when offered up as part of a double barrel, as in the classic sociological text Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft.

Vergangenheit means the past, but it sounds like something the Hells Angels might do, or perhaps that’s Vergangenbang.

Then of course there’s Latin. Lucretius wrote De Rorem Naturae, which is translated as The Order of Things, and Seneca’s only comedy is Apocolocyntosis, or The Pumpkinification of the Emperor Claudius on His Way to Heaven (a long-winded translation if there ever was one). Another favorite is apologia pro vita sua, which means defense of one’s life.

As for the French, only faute de mieux (for want of something better) or the overused plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose (the more things change, the more they are the same) and Louis XV’s famous après moi le déluge come to mind.

Latin has mystique and French is pithy, but the German compound words convey entire ideologies and philosophical systems. Who can ever forget the Nazi’s infamous Lebensborn (fount of life).

In 1066, when William the Conqueror invaded England, he made French the language of the upper classes, leaving the Anglo Saxon of Chaucer, with its German roots, as an indigenous language whose most famous word is still fuck. In Bohemia, the Slavic language that became modern Czech was relegated to the demotic culture, while German became the cosmopolitan language of writers like Franz Kafka. Peter the Great attempted unsuccessfully to Europeanize Russia by adopting French as the language of the aristocracy, though neither Pushkin nor Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy or Gogol were ever tempted to write their masterpieces in French.

Still, there is nothing like the roar of a German howitzer to perk up someone's ears. It’s like answering “Harvard” when someone asks where you went to school. When conversation drags, a well placed Weltanschauung or Verfremdungseffekt can get things rolling again. The late Pina Bausch founded Tanzteatre Wurpertal—the very name inspires reverence. Then there was the Princess von Thurn und Taxis, whom some people referred to simply as the Princess von buses and taxis.

Several years back, in the TLS, the critic George Steiner breathlessly invoked the Festschrift, commemorating the work of Mircea Eliade, the famed historian of religion. Festschriften are real conversation stoppers in otherwise mundane sentences. One can almost hear some vested scholar with pince-nez at Marburg, Freiburg, Heidelberg or one of the other great German universities whispering somberly, "Und jetzt kommen die Festschriften."

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Francis Levy is the author of Erotomania: A Romance.

A Spade's a Spade

I've had a bone to pick with HarperStudio since their inception. Or maybe it's their presentation in the media, which has been rather naively portrayed as being something more original and grand than it truly is.

It all began for me -- my itch, shall we call it? -- after reading an article in the April 3, 2008 edition of the Business section of the New York Times by Mokoto Rich. The article was dubbed "Book Unit to Skip Advances and Share Profits." For anyone aware of independent publishing on even a marginal scale, this headline alone is worthy of The Onion.

It felt as though Rich re-typed the press release, which was annoying. At no point did she challenge her subjects when they were referring to their project as "experimental" or "revolutionary."

Other venues, such as New York Magazine, in an article entitled "The End," seemed to pick up the thread and accept this misperception of HarperStudio as unique and/or newsworthy. Shelf Awareness, the industry e-newsletter, devoted an entire issue to HarperStudio (I certainly hope they billed them).

I don't mean to imply that I believe this practice began with independent publishing. (I seem to recall a story of Tom Hanks in his prime accepting a lesser fee in exchange for profit-sharing.)

But I do think that if there is room for news in this charade -- especially for the Business section of the Times! -- it would be that a corporate publisher is mimicking the business practices of their smaller counterparts.

There, I've said it.